On-line savings account

ABSTRACT

An on-line savings page for managing a savings account includes a list of items the user is saving for, where each item has a specified priority. A savings rate for each item is determined by the savings account based on the priority and total savings rate. The user is notified of any changes in the savings account, such as price changes, inventory changes, etc., as well as relevant information related to the item, such as sales, offers, recalls, etc.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/824,891 filed on Nov. 28, 2017, (and to beissued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,332,202 on Jun. 25, 2019), which is acontinuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/798,330 filed on Jul. 13, 2015 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,830,649on Nov. 28, 2017, which is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/638,842 filed on Dec. 15, 2009 (nowabandoned), the contents of which are all incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Dependents, employees, business associates, family members, and othersmay have a difficult time with disciplined adherence to a budget, savingfor specific items in the long-term, appropriately prioritizingspending, spending habits, and money management in general. Often, moneyis spent spontaneously such that there is often not enough money left ina budget to buy high priority items. Many are then forced to go overbudget and borrow money or take out lines of credit to pay for thesehigh priority items. In most instances, paying back the funds borrowedor taken out on credit may be difficult, expensive, and prolonged.Existing money management systems may be too conceptual, too expensive,or too restrictive.

Also, it is often that consumers have multiple items they are savingfor. Without proper management, lower priority items may take precedenceover higher priority items, such as when the consumer saves enough for alower priced, lower priority item, the consumer may purchase that iteminstead of saving a bit longer for the higher priority item.

Furthermore, when a savings goal is reached, the consumer may not beable to easily locate that item for purchase. This may occur if when theitem was first identified from a particular seller or merchant, thatseller or merchant either is no longer in business or no longer has thatitem available when the consumer is ready to make the purchase. Theconsumer is then required to search for the item, resulting ininconvenience as well as the possibility that the item now requires moremoney than what the consumer saved for.

Therefore, there is a need for a way for consumers to better save formultiple purchases without the disadvantages with conventional methodsabove.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, a savings account is provided to a user,such as by a payment provider, where the user may search for items fromthe savings account page, add found items, add generic item descriptors(such as Hawaii Vacation), set priorities for the items, automaticallyallocate funds based on priority, manually set fund allocations, andpurchase an item once the price or goal has been reached by simplyselecting a link. In other embodiments, the savings account may show theuser trends in the price of selected items (e.g., upward, downward, orflat), updates merchants or retailers offering the item at the lowestprice, special deals on the selected items or related items, updates onwhen an item is becoming low in stock or may be discontinued (such aswhen a new model is to be introduced), re-allocate funding amounts afterone or more updates (such as to priority, price, etc.), and/or provide alist of merchants having the item in stock. Pictures of items may alsobe displayed on the savings account page, as well as progressindications of the savings for each item.

Funds for the savings account may be obtained from the payment provider,a user's bank, a user's credit card, or other funding source. The usermay also directly transfer funds to a particular item in the savingsaccount. When a goal or price target is reached, the user may benotified, such as by email or text. The user may then click on a link tobe re-directed to the user's savings account or to a merchant offeringthe item at the lowest price or at the target price. The user may alsoaccess savings account through a standard Internet browser application.Links on the savings account enable the user to select a link or choosefrom a list of comparable merchants for the item. The user may then makethe purchase with funds being transferred from the user's savingsaccount with the payment provider to a merchant account.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will bemore readily apparent from the detailed description of the embodimentsset forth below taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an on-line savings account page according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 2 shows an on-line savings account page according to anotherembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process for setting up or changing anon-line savings account page according to one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process for updating a savings accountpage or notifying a user of changes regarding items on the account pageaccording to one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a networked system utilizing an on-linesavings account page; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a computer system according to oneembodiment for implementing one or more structures in FIG. 5.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a savings account page 100 according to one embodiment.Savings account page 100 may be provided to a user through a paymentprovider, such as PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. Savings account page100 may be presented to the user on a display screen of a smart phone,laptop computer, desktop computer, television screen, or other suitabledevice. The user may access savings account page 100 by first logginginto the user's account with the payment provider, such as entering in auser name and password/PIN. The user's savings account may be a separateaccount for other account(s). For example, the user may have a primaryaccount and a savings account, where the savings account is accessed byclicking on a tab or other suitable method.

Once savings account page 100 is displayed, the user may view, add,revise, and/or edit as needed numerous fields and data. The variousfields and data may differ in various embodiments. In this example,savings account page 100 includes a current balance 102 that providesthe user with how much money is currently available in the user'ssavings account. This may be updated each time funds are used ortransferred in. A periodic savings rate allows the user to see an amountsaved 104 each period 106, e.g., weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, etc.Amount saved 104 may be manually entered by the user, based on thefrequency of savings rate. Period 106 may be manually entered as well,but the user may also be provided with a drop-down list of standard timeperiods. In other embodiments, amount saved 104 is automaticallycalculated and filled by the payment provider, based on different userinputs, such as the cost of an item being saved for, priorities for eachitem, and a target date to reach the savings goal for each item. Simplealgorithms may be used to calculate the amount needed to be saved eachmonth based on these various inputs.

Once the amount and frequency are set, the specified amount may beautomatically deposited into the user's savings account on thedesignated days. The user may select a funding source, such as a bankaccount, a debit card, a credit card, or a separate account with thepayment provider. The funding source may be changed and may comprise aplurality of sources. In one embodiment, amount saved 104 may beobtained through more than one funding source, with specific allocationsfrom each funding source set by the user. For example, if the amountsaved each period is $200, $100 may be taken from the user's checkingaccount, $75 from the user's savings account at a bank, and $25 from theuser's account at the payment provider.

Savings account page 100 may also include a transfer button or link 108that enables the user to directly transfer funds at any time. Byselecting transfer button 108, such as by tapping or clicking on it, theuser can process a one-time transfer of funds into the user's savingsaccount. This may be accomplished in any conventional method, such asdirect links with a funding source, logging into the funding source,and/or specifying the amount of transfer. If the funding source is withthe same payment provider, the user may simply need to enter in anamount to be transferred and a date of transfer. This feature enablesthe user to add additional funds to the account as needed, such as whenthe user has additional funds to contribute, the user desires to reach asavings goal sooner, etc. A history button or link 110 provides the userthe option of seeing a history of transfers or deposits into the savingsaccount, along with information about any purchases made with thesavings. This may be shown as a graph, table, or any suitable format, ona different page or overlaid on savings account page 100.

A portion of savings account page 100 may include a listing of items theuser is saving for. In this example, three items are shown forillustration only, as any practical number may be possible. The listingmay include a written description 112, referring to a specific item orproduct. As used herein, item or product may also include services. Thelisting may then include other information about the item or savingssuch as an amount 114, a priority 116, an amount saved 118, a percentageof the amount saved 120, a purchase button 122, and a delete button 124.Other types of information may also be suitable.

Amount 114 may be the price of item 112 at a specific merchant at thetime the item is listed, an average price of the item from a set ofmerchants, the current price of the item, or a price set by the user.Thus, in some embodiments, amount 114 may change as the price of item112 changes, either on average or with a specific merchant.

Priority 116 is used to indicate the importance or priority of thedifferent items in the user's savings account, where the user desires tobe able to purchase higher priority items before lower priority items.The priority may be entered by the user, selected by the user from adrop-down menu, or assigned by the system in any suitable format. Forexample, the priority may be a number ranging from one to the totalnumber of items being saved for, with each item associated with a uniquenumber. In another example, the system may provide the user with alimited set of numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, or 4, in a drop down menu, with1 being the highest priority and 4 being the lowest priority. Prioritymay also be with letters, such as H (high), M (medium), and L (low).Based on the user-selected priorities, a savings plan may beestablished.

In one embodiment, the user may set a savings amount for each item persavings period from amount saved 104 and period 106. For example, if theuser is saving $200 each month and the user is saving for three items,the user may set aside $100 for the highest priority item, $60 for themiddle priority item, and $40 for the lowest priority item. Amounts maybe changed throughout and may depend on the prices of each item. Forexample, if a low priority item costs the most and the highest priorityitem costs the least, the user may put aside less for the high priorityitem, while still being able to purchase the high priority item first.

In another embodiment, the system or payment provider sets the savingsamount automatically, based on the priorities, total dollar amountsaved, and number of items. This automatic allocation can be determinedusing any suitable methodology, such as a weighted percentage based onpriority, without considering the costs of each individual item or timedesired to reach a savings goal. In this example, items are ranked bythe user as H, M, or L priority, with H given a weight of 0.6, M aweight of 0.3, and L a weight of 0.1. The system first determines howmany items are within each priority and then determines the amount savedfor each item based on the following: For each high priority item, moneysaved is equal to T*H/NH, for each medium priority item, money saved isT*M/NM, and for each low priority item, money saved is T*L/NL, where Tis the total dollar amount saved each period, NH is the number of highpriority items, NM is the number of medium priority items, and NL is thenumber of low priority items. Algorithms based on additional data mayalso be used, such as price of the items and desired time to reach atarget price.

Referring back to FIG. 1, amount saved 118 shows the user how much hasbeen saved for the particular item. Percentage of amount saved 120indicates how close the user is to reaching amount 114 represented as apercentage, where 100% indicates the savings goal has been reached. Oncethe saving goal has been reached, purchase button 122 may be selected,such as by clicking or tapping, to enable the user to purchase item 112.For example, selecting purchase button 122 may re-direct the user to amerchant site or on-line shopping site, such as eBay, where the user maypurchase the item.

Delete button 124 enables the user to remove item 112 from the savingsaccount at any time. If funds have already been allocated or saved forthat item, selecting delete button 124 may re-distribute funds allocatedfor the item to the remaining items. This re-distribution can be done inmany different ways. In one embodiment, the funds are equallydistributed to the remaining items. In other embodiments, the user canselect where the funds are re-distributed, the system distributes basedon the algorithm used to initially allocate savings as discussed above,or distribute first to items of highest priority and any remaining fundsto items of the next lower priority. Alternatively, funds from a deleteditem may be transferred back to a user account.

Savings account page 100 may provide the user with additional oralternative fields and data. In one embodiment, item 112 may berepresented by a picture 126 of the item, either in conjunction with orin place of a written description. A current best price 128 may providethe user with updated cost information about the item. For example, thesystem may periodically update the cost of the item with the currentbest price, which may be from a specific merchant or on-line shoppingsite. This gives the user a more accurate idea of when a savings goalcan be reached. For example, a targeted savings goal for a specifieditem may be less than what is currently needed to purchase the item ifthe price for the item has come down. A date field 130 indicates to theuser when the user is expected to save enough money to be able topurchase the selected item, based either on the current best price orthe targeted savings goal. The date in date field 130 can be determinedby simple algorithms based on the rate of savings and the desiredsavings amount. The date may be changed whenever any relevant parameterchanges, such as rate of savings, price of item, or savings goal.

In addition to specifying a specific item, such as shown in writtendescription 112 or picture 126, the user may wish to save for unusual orpersonal items, such as a trip or vacation to Hawaii. Such an item mayinclude flight, hotel, car rental, or any combination that the userwishes to include in savings for the Hawaii vacation. Consequently,savings account page 100 may include a descriptor field 132 that allowsthe user to enter a description of the savings item. The user may simplyclick on field 132 and type in the item description, where in thisexample, the user enters “Hawaii Vacation.” One or more of the variousfields described above may be associated with this entry and thereforeare not shown in the figure for clarity.

Savings account page 100 may also include a search field 134, in whichthe user may enter an item to search for. This is similar to searchfields for various Internet browsers, on-line sites, etc. Once the userenters in a word or words for the item in search field 134, the user mayselect a find or search button 136 to begin a search for the item. Thesearch may be linked to a particular merchant or shopping site (such aseBay). Once found, the user may add an item to the list, such as byselecting an add button 138. This may also populate fields with acurrent or best price, a photo, etc. In one embodiment, the user maybypass search button 136 and just select add button to add thedescriptor to the savings list, e.g., “Hawaii Vacation.”

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of a savings account page 200, which canbe accessed through the user's payment provider account or othersuitable means, such as described with respect to FIG. 1. Once accessed,the user can view savings account page 200 on a display screen of a userdevice, such as a smart phone, a PC, or other computing device. Savingsaccount page 200 includes a priority box 202 that allows the user toassign a priority to the corresponding item, such as by entering in anumber from 1 to N, where N may be the number of items being saved foror a number less than the number of items being saved for. Prioritiesmay be re-allocated at any time by the user changing the priority numberof an item.

A written item descriptor 204 and/or a photo 206 describes the item.Descriptor 204 and/or photo 206 may also contain a link that allows theuser to select (such as roll over or tap) or click on the link foradditional information about the item. For example, one or more of thefollowing may be provided to the user: a more detailed description ofthe item, a list of merchants offering the item, along with prices, themerchant with the best current price for the item, one or more localmerchants offering the item, etc. The user may be re-directed to adifferent screen or shown on the same screen as an overlay.

A listing price 208 may show the price of the item when the user addedthe item to savings account page 200, which may be useful in determiningthe initial savings rate for the item. A current price 210 shows theuser the current amount for the item. This current price may be the“best” or lowest price or the current price from a particular merchant.There may be situations where the original price increases (e.g., highdemand/low supply) or decreases (e.g., new model/version coming out, lowdemand/high supply). A change field 212 provides the user with a dollaramount or percentage change from the current price to the originalprice. This number if positive if the price of the item has increasedand negative if the price has decreased. Change field 212 can give theuser a sense of whether the user should try and buy the item sooner(such as a low current price that is attractive to the user or a trendupward where the user wants to make the purchase before the price goesup more) or remove the item (if the price has gone too high). An amountsaved field 214 shows the user how much has been saved for thatparticular item, such as described with respect to FIG. 1.

A date or time field 216 shows when the savings goal is expected to bereached, based on the item price and savings rate. Field 216 may be adate or a number, such as X months and Y days. The date or number may bebased on the current price or the original price. Field 216 may also beselected to manually change the date or number. For example, if the userwishes to purchase the item on an earlier date or in less days, the usercan enter the new date or number to re-allocate savings. In oneembodiment, the overall savings may be increased and/or the savings ratefor one or more other items may be reduced (either by the user or thesystem). A general field 218 may be used to provide various informationabout the item to the user. Examples include any “hot” deals, lowinventory, sales, local sales, related items, coupons, etc. One or moreof the above may be represented in separate and individual fields oronly in general field 218. These various types of information may allowthe user to make a more informed decision whether to continue saving forthe item, increase savings for a quicker purchase, decrease savings fora slower purchase, save for or make additional purchases related to theitem, etc. This may also be advantageous to merchants, who can marketmore directly to an interested consumer.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart 300 showing a process for setting up a savingsaccount according to one embodiment. At step 302, the user logs into afinancial account, such as a credit card account, a bank account, or apayment provider account, such as with PayPal, Inc. The login processcan be by any suitable method. For example, the user may enter a useridentifier, such as a user name or email address, and a password or PIN.Next, the user accesses the user's savings account at step 304. This maybe by simply clicking on a savings account link on the user account pageor by entering the same or new login information for the savingsaccount. Note that in one embodiment, the user may bypass step 302 andaccess the savings account directly, such as by entering a useridentifier and password/PIN from an appropriate site.

Once at the savings account page, the user may then select a fundingsource at step 306. The user may enter the requested information for oneor more funding sources, such as a bank account number, routing number,credit card number, billing address, social security number, etc. Thefunding source may be with the savings account provider or a thirdparty. If the former, the user may simply need to select an appropriateoption, without entering the additional information required for a thirdparty funding source. If the latter, the savings account provider mayfirst verify that the selected funding source is proper by anyconventional method. If a funding source has already been selected andthe user does not wish to change the funding source, this step may beskipped.

Next, the user sets a savings rate at step 308. This can be doneinitially to set up a savings rate or subsequently if the user wishes tochange the savings rate. The savings rate may include a dollar amountand a period, e.g., X dollars/week. In one embodiment, the user may setdifferent savings rates from different funding sources. Once set, ateach time period, the designated amount may be automatically withdrawnfrom the appropriate funding source and deposited into the user'ssavings account.

At step 310, the user selects an item the user wishes to save for. Asdiscussed above, item selection can be manual entry, by searching andselecting, or any other suitable means. Step 310 may also includesetting the price or savings goal for the selected item, which may beautomatic (such as from a search and selection) or manually input by theuser. Item selection may further include a link or designation of aspecific merchant offering the item. If the user wishes to change anyparameters of the item, as determined at step 312, the user may do so atstep 314, such as changing a value of the item, changing a desiredmerchant, deleting the item, changing the quantity of the item, etc. Theuser may then set a priority for the item at step 316, such as from adrop down menu or entering a priority number.

Next, the user, at step 318, may set a desired time to reach the savingsgoal to purchase the item. The time entry may be with a pop-up calendaror the user may enter an actual month, day, and year. The user may alsoenter the number of days as the time. In other embodiments, the time toreach the savings goal may be automatically calculated by the systemusing the item price and the savings rate for that item (taking intoconsideration the priority of the item). Optionally, at step 320, theuser may designate a specific funding source for the item, which mayinvolve the same or similar process as with steps 306 and 308 describedabove. For example, the user may wish to only fund this item with adifferent funding source than the other items. If there are more itemsto add to the savings account, as determined at step 322, the processcontinues back at step 310. Note that the various steps described aboveand herein may be combined or performed in different order asappropriate.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart 400 showing a process for updating a savingsaccount and notifying the user of different events according to oneembodiment. At step 402, with the savings account set up, the systemdetermines if there has been a change to an item. This may include theuser manually changing a parameter, such as quantity (delete the item,increase the quantity, or decrease the quantity) or adding a new item.The system may also obtain any item change information through its own,such as monitoring if and when something about the item has changed.This may include low inventory on the item, a new version or model beingintroduced, a recall on the item, a selected merchant has stoppedoffering the item, etc. If something about the item has changed, thesystem may adjust the necessary parameters at step 404, such asadjusting the time to reach the item price goal, changing a merchant,etc. The user is then notified, at step 406, of the change. Notificationcan be an alert to the user that a particular item has changed and toaccess the savings account for details. Notification can also be adescription of the change. Both can be done in different ways, such astext, email, automate phone call, etc.

The system may also determine if a change in price has occurred for anitem at step 408, such as the user manually changing an item price orthe system detecting an increase in price, a decrease in price, a salefrom a particular merchant (ether on-line or local), a special offer onthe item, etc. Once a price change has been detected, one or moreparameters in the user's savings account may be adjusted, at step 410,if needed to reflect the change, including, but not limited to price,time to reach the price goal, name of merchant offering the item at theprice, text notes, etc. The user can then be notified of the pricechange, similar to notification of an item change in step 406.

The savings account provider system, such as by payment provider likePayPal, Inc., can monitor when a savings goal has been reached or isclose to being reached. This can be an input from the user, e.g., theuser may request that a notification be sent when a goal is reached orwhen a goal is expected to be reached within a specific number of daysor saving periods. This may also be an automatic function provided bythe system without requiring input from the user. Depending on thetriggering event, the system determines when the user's savings have metor is about to meet a savings goal or price for an item at step 414.When this is detected, the user may be notified at step 416, wherenotification may be similar to the notification described in step 406above. If the user decides to make the purchase, either at this time orat a later date, the system processes the payment at step 418. Note thatthe payment process may be performed at any time and after each usernotification step, not just notification step 416.

Payment processing can be done in any number of methods. In oneembodiment, when the user decides to purchase the item (such as byclicking on a link associated with the item in the savings accountpage), the user may be asked simply to confirm the funds transferredfrom the savings account to a merchant account. The user may also begiven the option of payment using a different funding source, which maythen require the user to enter specific requested information about thefunding source.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a networked system 500 that can be usedwith an on-line savings account, such as described above, in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention. System 500 includes a user orconsumer device 510, a merchant server 540, and a payment serviceprovider server 570 in communication over a network 560. Payment serviceprovider server 570 may be maintained by a payment provider, such asPayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif., which also manages and supports theon-line savings account that can be viewed from user device 510.

User device 510, merchant server 540, and payment service providerserver 570 may each include one or more processors, memories, and otherappropriate components for executing instructions such as program codeand/or data stored on one or more computer readable mediums to implementthe various applications, data, and steps described herein. For example,such instructions may be stored in one or more computer readable mediasuch as memories or data storage devices internal and/or external tovarious components of system 500, and/or accessible over network 560.

Network 560 may be implemented as a single network or a combination ofmultiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, network 560 mayinclude the Internet or one or more intranets, landline networks,wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks.

User device 510 may be implemented using any appropriate combination ofhardware and/or software configured for wired and/or wirelesscommunication over network 560. For example, in one embodiment, userdevice 510 may be implemented as a personal computer, equipped with orcapable of receiving data from a scanner and/or camera, of a user 505 incommunication with the Internet. In other embodiments, user device 510may be implemented as a wireless telephone, personal digital assistant(PDA), notebook computer, and/or other types of computing devicesequipped with a display for showing the savings account.

As shown, user device 510 may include one or more browser applications515 which may be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface topermit user 505 to browse information available over network 560. Forexample, in one embodiment, browser application 515 may be implementedas a web browser configured to view information available over theInternet, access an on-line savings account, and perform a financialtransaction. User device 510 may also include one or more toolbarapplications 520 which may be used, for example, to provide client-sideprocessing for performing desired tasks in response to operationsselected by user 505. In one embodiment, toolbar application 520 maydisplay a user interface in connection with browser application 515 asfurther described herein to access a payment provider account and/or asavings account.

User device 510 may further include other applications 525 as may bedesired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to userdevice 510. For example, such other applications 525 may includesecurity applications for implementing client-side security features,programmatic client applications for interfacing with appropriateapplication programming interfaces (APIs) over network 560, or othertypes of applications. Applications 525 may also include email andtexting applications that allow user 505 to send and receive emails andtexts through network 560, such as notifications or descriptions of itemor price changes of selected savings items. User device 510 includes oneor more user identifiers 530 which may be implemented, for example, asoperating system registry entries, cookies associated with browserapplication 515, identifiers associated with hardware of user device510, or other appropriate identifiers, such as used forpayment/user/device authentication. In one embodiment, user identifier530 may be used by a payment service provider to associate user 505 witha particular account maintained by the payment service provider asfurther described herein.

Merchant server 540 may be maintained, for example, by an on-linemerchant offering various products and/or services that the user may besaving for. Merchant server 540 may include a database 545 identifyingavailable products and/or services (e.g., collectively referred to asitems) which may be made available for viewing, selection, and purchaseby user 505, such as when selected from the savings account page.Accordingly, merchant server 540 also includes a marketplace application550 which may be configured to serve information over network 560 tobrowser 515 of user device 510. In one embodiment, user 505 may interactwith marketplace application 550 through browser applications overnetwork 560 in order to view various products or services identified indatabase 545, using data from a captured product code.

Merchant server 540 also includes a checkout application 555 which maybe configured to facilitate the purchase by user 505 of goods orservices identified by marketplace application 550 or through thesavings page. Checkout application 555 may be configured to acceptpayment information from user 505 and/or from payment service providerserver 570 over network 560.

Payment service provider server 570 may be maintained, for example, byan online payment service provider which may provide payment on behalfof user 505 to the operator of merchant server 540. Payment serviceprovider server 570 may include one or more payment applications 575which may be configured to interact with user device 510 and/or merchantserver 540 over network 560 to facilitate the purchase of goods orservices by user 505 of user device 510 from merchant server 540. In oneembodiment, payment service provider server 570 may be provided byPayPal, Inc.

Payment service provider server 570 also maintains a plurality of useraccounts 580, each of which may include account information 585associated with individual users. For example, account information 585may include private financial information of users of devices such asaccount numbers, passwords, phone numbers, credit card information, bankinformation, or other financial information which may be used tofacilitate online transactions by user 505. Advantageously, paymentapplication 575 may be configured to interact with merchant server 540on behalf of user 505 during a transaction with checkout application 555to track and manage purchases made by users.

Payment application 575 may include a mobile payment processingapplication 590 which may be configured to receive information from amobile user device and/or merchant server 540 for storage in a paymentdatabase 595. Mobile payment application 590 may be further configuredto match data received from a mobile device with information stored inpayment database 595 for payment authentication and processing. Asdiscussed this data may include the user's device phone number, email,password, and/or PIN.

Payment service provider server 570 may further include a savingsaccount application 596 which may be configured to create, maintain, andmanage an on-line savings account for the user, such as described above.Savings account application 596 may also be configured to monitor,detect, or otherwise track merchants, items, and other informationavailable on-line to perform one or more of the services or functionsdescribed above. In one embodiment, savings account application 596 maybe configured to perform the steps described above for creating asavings account, maintaining and modifying the savings account, andreceive/transmit messages about items.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a computer system 600 suitable forimplementing one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. Invarious implementations, the user device may comprise a personalcomputing device (e.g., a personal computer, laptop, cell phone, PDA,etc.) capable of communicating with the network. The merchant and/orpayment provider may utilize a network computing device (e.g., a networkserver) capable of communicating with the network. It should beappreciated that each of the devices utilized by users, merchants, andpayment providers may be implemented as computer system 600 in a manneras follows.

Computer system 600 includes a bus 602 or other communication mechanismfor communicating information data, signals, and information betweenvarious components of computer system 600. Components include an inputcomponent 604 that processes a user action, such as selecting keys froma keypad/keyboard, selecting one or more buttons or links, etc., andsends a corresponding signal to bus 602. A transceiver 606 transmits andreceives signals between computer system 600 and other devices, such asa merchant server, payment provider server, or another user device. Inone embodiment, the transmission is wireless, although othertransmission mediums and methods may also be suitable. A display 608,such as an LCD screen, display an image, such as the savings accountpage. A processor 612, which can be a micro-controller, digital signalprocessor (DSP), or other processing component, processes these varioussignals, such as for display on computer system 600 or transmission toother devices via a communication link 618. Processor may determinesaving rates and other data as needed for the savings page. Selectionsby the user for savings, purchase, searching, etc. may be processed byprocessor 612.

Components of computer system 600 also include a system memory component614 (e.g., RAM) and a static storage component 616 (e.g., ROM). Computersystem 600 performs specific operations by processor 612 and othercomponents by executing one or more sequences of instructions containedin system memory component 614. Logic may be encoded in a computerreadable medium, which may refer to any medium that participates inproviding instructions to processor 612 for execution. Such a medium maytake many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media,volatile media, and transmission media. In various implementations,non-volatile media includes optical or magnetic disks, volatile mediaincludes dynamic memory, such as system memory component 614, andtransmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiberoptics, including wires that comprise bus 602. In one example,transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such asthose generated during radio wave, optical, and infrared datacommunications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer is adapted to read.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by computer system 600. In various other embodiments of thepresent disclosure, a plurality of computer systems 600 coupled bycommunication link 618 to the network (e.g., such as a LAN, WLAN, PTSN,and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as programcode and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readablemediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may beimplemented using one or more general purpose or specific purposecomputers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Whereapplicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may bechanged, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-stepsto provide features described herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. The savingsaccount page is described primarily as a web page, but the savingsaccount and/or savings account page can be an application (such as aniPhone® App), a desktop widget, or something similar that may be easilyaccessible to the user. As such, it is contemplated that variousalternate embodiments and/or modifications to the present disclosure,whether explicitly described or implied herein, are possible in light ofthe disclosure. Having thus described embodiments of the presentdisclosure, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made in form and detail without departing from the scopeof the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is limited onlyby the claims.

1. (canceled)
 2. A system comprising: a non-transitory memory; and oneor more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memory andconfigured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to causethe system to perform operations comprising: accessing a savings planfor purchasing an item, wherein the savings plan comprises a set ofparameters including a savings rate representing a rate of transferringa monetary amount from a funding source to a savings account associatedwith the savings plan; monitoring a status of the item with respect toat least one merchant that offers the item for sale; determining achange of the status of the item based on the monitoring; and modifyingthe savings rate of the savings plan based on the change of the statusof the item.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the status comprises atleast one of a price, an availability, a model version, or a recallstatus.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the determining the change ofthe status of the item comprises determining that the item is no longeravailable at the at least one merchant, and wherein the operationsfurther comprise: accessing an online store of a second merchant; anddetermining that the second merchant offers the item for sale at a pricebased on the accessing, wherein the savings rate is further modifiedbased on the price of the item offered at the second merchant.
 5. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the set of parameters further includes atarget purchase date for purchasing the item, and wherein the operationsfurther comprise modifying the target purchase date based on the changeof the status of the item.
 6. The system of claim 2, wherein theoperations further comprise: periodically transferring funds from thefunding source to the savings account according to the modified savingsrate.
 7. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise:accessing an online store of the at least one merchant; determining aprice of the item from the online store; and determining the savingsrate and a target purchase date based on the price of the item.
 8. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: determiningthat the savings account includes sufficient funds for a purchase theitem from the at least one merchant based on a balance of the savingsaccount and a price of the item at the at least one merchant; andtransmitting, to a user device associated with the savings plan, anotification indicating that the item is available for purchase based onthe balance of the savings account and the price of the item.
 9. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein the notification comprises a link forpurchasing the item.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: receiving a selection of the link; and processing, inresponse to receiving the selection, a payment for the purchase of theitem from the at least one merchant.
 11. A method, comprising:accessing, by one or more hardware processors, a savings plan forpurchasing an item, wherein the savings plan comprises a set ofparameters including a savings rate representing a rate of transferringa monetary amount to a savings account associated with the savings plan;detecting, by the one or more hardware processors, a change of anoffering of the item by at least one merchant; and modifying, by the oneor more hardware processors, the savings rate of the savings plan basedon the detected change.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the savingsplan is associated with a plurality of funding sources, wherein the setof parameters comprises an allocation rule specifying a correspondingallocation of the savings rate to each of the plurality of fundingsources, and wherein the method further comprises modifying theallocation rule based on the detected change.
 13. The method of claim12, further comprising: periodically transferring funds from theplurality of funding sources to the savings account based on themodified savings rate and the modified allocation rule.
 14. The methodof claim 11, wherein the item is a first model version of a product,wherein the change of the offering comprises an offering of a secondmodel version of the product by the at least one merchant, wherein thesecond model version supersedes the first model version.
 15. The methodof claim 14, further comprising: determining a price of the second modelversion of the product offered by the at least one merchant, wherein thesavings rate is further modified based on the price of the second modelversion.
 16. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting anotification indicating the change of the offering of the item to a userdevice associated with the savings plan.
 17. A non-transitorymachine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readableinstructions executable to cause a machine to perform operationscomprising: determining an interest of a user in purchasing an item;monitoring a status of the item with respect to at least one merchantthat offers the item for sale; determining a change of the status of theitem based on the monitoring; accessing a savings plan for purchasingthe item, wherein the savings plan comprises a set of parametersincluding a savings rate representing a rate of transferring a monetaryamount from one or more funding sources to a savings account associatedwith the savings plan; and modifying a first parameter in the set ofparameters of the savings plan based on the change of the status of theitem.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17,wherein the status comprises at least one of a price, an availability, amodel version, or a recall status.
 19. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the determining the changeof the status of the item comprises determining that the item is nolonger available at the at least one merchant, and wherein theoperations further comprise: accessing an online store of a secondmerchant; and determining that the second merchant offers the item forsale at a price based on the accessing, wherein the first parameter isfurther modified based on the price of the item offered at the secondmerchant.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17,wherein the set of parameters further includes a target purchase datefor purchasing the item; and wherein the modifying the first parametercomprises modifying the target purchase date based on the change of thestatus of the purchasable item.
 21. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise: determiningthat the savings account includes sufficient funds for a purchase theitem from the at least one merchant based on a balance of the savingsaccount and a price of the item at the at least one merchant; andtransmitting, to a user device associated with the savings plan, anotification indicating that the item is available for purchase based onthe balance of the savings account and the price of the item.